Today I sampled...March and April 2010

Today I sampled L'Artisan Parfumeur Tubereuse...it was really buttery smelling, like artificial butter flavoring though, not delicious creamy butter. Definitely not what I expected and the butter was difficult to wash off even after a few hours. I never need to smell this one again.

Encre Noire vs. Encre Noire Pour Elle

My second sampling of Encre Noire Pour Elle and this time with Encre Noire (original) for comparsion.

My take is this- I LOVE the original even more when comparing it to the Pour Elle which although has 'some' vetiver in it,it is a gourmand heeavily sweet scent - sweet to the point of Hypnotic Poison IMHO. Pour Elle is an opaque sweeeeeet scent- tenacious through showers .
E N original is all about the vetiver on me and a bit of smokiness.

For me I will take Encre Noire ( original ) and Guerlain's Vetiver ( men's version )
I can see how the Pour Elle will begin to irritate me after a while.

Paloma Picasso

The first time I gave this an honest wearing, really. Seemed kind of interesting initially, like a darker Knowing with leather, castoreum, jasmine, patchouli, all that good stuff, but crashed into a great big snowdrift of powder. I wonder if it's been reformulated in its lifetime...? If so, I'd like to try the old version.

Aromatics Elixir

Gave this a second chance. Nope, still a scrubber. I just don't see the appeal, I'm afraid, despite it being smack-dab right in the middle of a genre I love.

Well, it was actually yesterday evening. I gave Annick Goutal's Ninfeo Mio a good test run. The opening surprised me: dill and figs. Those notes lasted a long, long time, too. I didn't find it particularly compelling, but I'll give it another test or two, just to be fair. But I don't think my wallet has any fears over this one!

I'm just off to the local pub for a few pints and games of pool and I've just sprayed a sample of Frapin Terre de Sarment. It seems quite strong, so I'll see how it goes.

Tom Ford - Tobacco Vanille, sampled it yesterday actually but can still smell it (I've had a shower). So I've had 20+ hours from this, and I love it, sweet but not too sweet, smokey but not in an old way!

Tabu.
I keep thinking i"ll change my mind about it, but it remains a scrubber for me.

Agreed on Tabu, Nostalgie.

I tried Un Couer en Mai today, and I think it's lovely. I did not expect such an animalic blast, but the white floral aspect it dries down to is really fresh, if a little astringent. If this cost 80USD, it would be FB worthy. Alas.

Brasil Dream By Estee Lauder



Notes of guava, pineapple, orange blossom, neroli, night-blooming jasmine, Gardenia Brazil NaturePrint ( whatever that is ) , lemon, bergamot, patchouli, sandalwood and coconut milk. ( Thanks to nstperfume.com )

Bright, effusive, jasminey and pretty gorgeous stuff. Light ,easy to wear but with the E L eau de parfum strength tenacity. Reminds me of a very handsome ,buff brazilian instructor at my gym here..............

Today I sampled BaseNoter Irina's Dragonfly this morning, then went on to Annick Goutal's Songes. I know it's supposed to be jasmine, ylang, and tropical flowers, but to me it's just like fresh gardenias with a dash of vanilla. Lovely! Tonight I'm testing one of my own creations.

The modern La Collection version of Lancome Climat. Gorgeous. Green and incensey (I know, it's not in the notes; it's probably how I read the herbal elements) and barely animalic and, again, green. My best unsniffed purchase (bad ChickenFreak!) ever.

Tried today at San Francisco's Barney's...

Serge Lutens - Fille en Aiguilles

The first pine fragrance I adore. I respect pine as a note, but too often I flee from it when it sends me into Pinesol territory ( sorry, Zagorsk, I know you're The Powerful Scent Of Real Clean, I just can't seem to love you, or even tolerate you for longer than a few seconds ).

The top notes are my favorite part. Sappy pine, Christmas spices, and burnt sugar in a burst of intoxicating rich sweetness to appeal to ones diabetic inner child. Gourmand pine, not coniferous in the vein of the seemingly endless Bois series, but something closer to Parfumerie Gernerale's Cedre Sandaraque, where instead of pine, PG joined an Atlas cedar note to cotton candy in a delicious way.

The drydown is more familiar territory; something akin to Arabie with the edges rounded off, which given the "Do I vomit or do I cannabalize myself?" dilemma of Arabie's curry-house assault, isn't a bad thing in my books. Of Lutens' spice-rack creations, this is my favorite.

The longevity is a bummer for an oriental, an average to weak four to six hours, but I like it enough to want to reapply it!

If Lutens puts more fragrances out of this quality ( not necessarily this style ), I just may forgive him for the monument to blandness that is L'Eau.

Frederic Malle - Une Rose

What a disappointment. All this talk of truffles, chypres, and patchouli had me picturing Rose de Nuit with Black Orchid top notes. What do I get? Czech & Speake's Rose with death-metal sillage.

Velvet Rose does loud rose so much better, more naturally, and louder. Black Aoud, No. 88, and Voleur de Rose all do patchouli and rose better. Many fragrances do the general theme of dark rose better, but this isn't really a dark rose - it's a soapy, almost powdery thing, not bad, but not good in light of what else is out there.

To my great surprise, I liked Lipstick Rose a great deal more, even though it's not my style at all. To contrast the two, they're like two elderly women, one who may be a old-fashioned in her wardrobe, but is still a class act, and another who's totally given up on life and wears nothing but ill-fitting sweaters and a drab mumu. Truly, if Une Rose wasn't modern, I could easily imagine it as a badly-reformulated classic.

Sorry folks, I know it has its fans, but I was simply relieved when Une Rose gave up the ghost on my skin.

Today I sampled LoLLIA - Breathe peony and white lily...it was horrid, awful scrubber. Run from this one!

Quick sniffs on skin from samples from Rei Rien spaced out over the day :

Que Sais-Je by Jean Patou - An innoffensive and very forgettable floral on me.
Si Lolita by Lolita Lempicka- A superflous fruity floral on me.
Futur by Robert Piguet- Very striking but not for me. This scent activated memories of working in a board and care home where people could smoke. Not a happy time.
Alahine Teo Cabanel- Very nice, well blended- definately needs some more test runs for me to figure out the notes
Ambre Gris Balmain- This is a unisex winner. I now STILL have not met a Balmain I have not liked

Today I sampled two from Antonia's Flowers; Antonia's Flowers and Floret. Both are very floral and I think I liked Floret (sweet apricot and Lily of the Valley) better than AF (lots of green juicy freesia and wet ferns). I definitely like the EDP versions better than the EDTs. However, I think these might be better off worn in warmer weather, it was just too cold and rainy today to fully appreciate...gonna try them again in the heat of summer.

Craving something warm now.

Thanks to the lovely and gracious Kumquat, I was able to test Delrae's Debut. Very well done. A+ Looking forward to another ride.

Arwen_Elf: I know what you mean about Ange au Demon Le Secret. That one takes a good hour to dry and mellow out. Then it's not overly sweet. I love it on my wife.

I grabbed a Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia giftbox today, unsniffed. I've loved most of the Private Collection scents and have been snatching up a LOT of Gardenia frags lately.

It's lovely, but too much tuberose, not enough gardenia. Even with all the fresh-cut greenery and the softness of the wear, the tuberose is just too sharp for me. Live and learn!

Latelittlesleeper, I hear you. A couple years ago I bought a PCTG (just the EdP) unsniffed. I was sure I'd love it b/c the reviews were almost uniformly glowing. Nope, I didn't like it at all. You're right; live and learn. Buying a whole bottle you end up disliking is a tough way to sample.

vintagevogue, I know! All the reviews made it sound exactly my style. Even The Guide gave it a thumbs up, "True Gardenia" rec so I thought I couldn't go wrong.

Luckily, it was a Marshalls buy. And I figure I can maybe trade it away. I can't help the blind buy! I love the thrill of it.

Today I sampled Dior Addict Shine EDT notes include: cedrat, raspberry, gardenia and cedar wood. I like the sparkly citrus opening, its tangy and bright like raspberry lemonade. But that is where it ends for me, on my skin I don't smell much gardenia or the supposed cedar base note at all. Absolutely NO developement. Zero longevity, completely gone in an hour. Too bad, I really wanted to like this one for summer. Honestly, I can't see anyone spending money on this unless it's an impulse purchase from spritzing at the counter...and a Dior no less, what a shame.

Not really full wearing samples, but just quick spritzes at Neimans this afternoon: I went in to try the new Voyage d'Hermes and ended up first-time sampling that and Varvatos Artisan Black as well as Burberry Sport. Balmain Ambre Gris caught my eye and I wanted to re-test that in warmer weather and to see if I still liked it. It's sweet--too cloying for summer methinks--but I do still enjoy that and will probably have to spring for a bottle come next winter.

On to the new stuff:

Burberry Sport... nice citrus and ginger opening, but juniper overload on me (I'm sensitive to that note though) and a boring, synthetic cedar-amber base. Pass.

Varvatos Artisan Black... decent and pleasant enough, but simply likable and uninteresting. Good for being a fruity masculine though.

Voyage d'Hermes... I like it. How much I like it is hard to say. It is extremely JCE and yet different than the Jardins and Terre. I like the grapefruit top, I like the musky base, not sure yet about the woody heart. I'll need to sample it alone and without the similar, yet poor by comparison Burberry Sport. I really can't tell if the wood smells iso e super artificial or not because the Burberry smelled so artificial that it tampered with my sense of the Hermes. Definitely a possible purchase for me, in competition with TdH or another Jardin (I already own and love Nil). Perfectly unisex scent.

I bought samples from The Fragrance Shop - Vol de Nuit type , Jonquil Oil ( single note oil ) and I got a sample of their Shalimar type.

Vol de nuit type- disappointing- don't even go there, people * talk to the hand * *LOL* .
There is vague resemblance to Vol de Nuit extrait but it becomes a mess of notes and there's a weird plasticky aroma to it all .

Shalimar type - better- much better- similar to the vintage extrait but after a few minutes again- it's that mess of notes and plasticky smell going on. Not worth it.

Jonquil single note oil- this is quite good to start - a lovely fresh green floral aroma and then it's down hill - I think there's a lot of petitgrain in it and not jonquil which is very expensive in absolute.

One lives and learns.

I just ordered DSH's Shalimar dupe! I wonder if it'll be any better than your experience with The Fragrance Shop. Have you tried any of her dupes?

Guerlain Mahora. I'd heard such mixed things about this that I was a little scared to try it! Well, it turns out that IMO it's really nice.

It's a BIG tropical floral, very assertive, and it's hard for me to judge my own sillage so I'm a little afraid that it smells like I'm a whore-a, but it's also warm and pretty. Not too sweet, rich, a giant cloud of ylang and tuberose and frangipani with a little suntan lotiony thing underneath -- some coconut and something else warm. I would love to loll in a hammock somewhere that smelled just like this.

Hard to believe this is a Guerlain -- not because it isn't good enough, but because it is completely opposite to my mental image of what Guerlain smells like, I picture them being very powdery and elegant and French, not warm and pillowy and lushly sunny. I've been sort of looking for a tropical, not too sweet/fruity, summer frag -- but I'm a little shocked that this turned out be it!

Last week sometime, I sampled Beyonce's HEAT as a potential buy for my sister. There is nothing HOT about it. Should have been named hard candy. All I could smell was the peach in it. Kind of smelled like a candied cough syrup. I grabbed a sample and gave it to my friend and she wasn't impressed with it either. Kim Kardashian's perfume is Givenchy's Amarige. I purchased the new Prada for my mom for Mother's Day, Lolita Lempicka And Halle (Purple) For My Sister, And La Nuit De L'Homme by YSL for myself.

No - but I'd bet DSH 's will be better than The Fragrance shop . I did look at her website and saw she has some vintage types - maybe I will try DSH the next time. The Fragrance Shop's samples were definitely scrubbers- that plastic note was horrid.

Today I sampled 10 Corso Como, this is actually the second time that I have sniffed it. I was looking for some good sandalwood frags when I picked up the sample.

I like it a lot, but not sure I love it. It is a very peaceful scent. Fresh and woodsy and rather quiet...maybe a little too quiet. Clean smelling, smooth and classy. And since I am trying to broaden my horizons, this is certainly different from anything I currently own.

Lasts about three hours max on my skin.

Phew! I thought for a second you were talking about the real Vol de Nuit. I really need to get some more before the Grim Reaper decides to visit the current formula...

Please, no more revisiting of the formula Guerlain !

yes, Vol de Nuit type was horrible- I don't even know why I thought The Fragrance Shop could replicate it in the first place. An exercise in futility !